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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) –
“Entrusting oneself to the merciful Jesus like Mary: 'do whatever
he tells you'” is the title of the Holy Father's message for the
24th World Day of the Sick (11 February, liturgical memory of Our
Lady of Lourdes). This year the Day will be solemnly celebrated in
the Holy Land, and for this reason, reflecting on the Gospel account
of the wedding at Cana, the Pope recalls that illness, especially
when grave, challenges our human existence and causes us to pose
questions that explore the depths of the person. The following is the
full text of his message, signed in the Vatican on 15 September, the
memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

“The twenty-fourth World Day of the
Sick offers me an opportunity to draw particularly close to you, dear
friends who are ill, and to those who care for you. This year, since
the Day of the Sick will be solemnly celebrated in the Holy Land, I
wish to propose a meditation on the Gospel account of the wedding
feast of Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle through the
intervention of his Mother. The theme chosen - Entrusting oneself to
the merciful Jesus like Mary: 'Do whatever he tells you' is quite
fitting in light of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The main
Eucharistic celebration of the Day will take place on 11 February
2016, the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Nazareth
itself, where 'the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us'.
In Nazareth, Jesus began his salvific mission, applying to himself
the words of the Prophet Isaiah, as we are told by the Evangelist
Luke: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty
to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed
go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord'.

Illness, above all grave illness,
always places human existence in crisis and brings with it questions
that dig deep. Our first response may at times be one of rebellion:
why has this happened to me? We can feel desperate, thinking that all
is lost, that things no longer have meaning.

In these situations, faith in God is on
the one hand tested, yet at the same time can reveal all of its
positive resources. Not because faith makes illness, pain, or the
questions which they raise, disappear, but because it offers a key by
which we can discover the deepest meaning of what we are
experiencing; a key that helps us to see how illness can be the way
to draw nearer to Jesus who walks at our side, weighed down by the
Cross. And this key is given to us by Mary, our Mother, who has known
this way at first hand.

At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary is
the thoughtful woman who sees a serious problem for the spouses: the
wine, the symbol of the joy of the feast, has run out. Mary
recognises the difficulty, in some way makes it her own, and acts
swiftly and discreetly. She does not simply look on, much less spend
time in finding fault, but rather, she turns to Jesus and presents
him with the concrete problem: 'They have no wine'. And when Jesus
tells her that it is not yet the time for him to reveal himself, she
says to the servants: 'Do whatever he tells you'. Jesus then performs
the miracle, turning water into wine, a wine that immediately appears
to be the best of the whole celebration. What teaching can we draw
from this mystery of the wedding feast of Cana for the World Day of
the Sick?

The wedding feast of Cana is an image
of the Church: at the centre there is Jesus who in his mercy performs
a sign; around him are the disciples, the first fruits of the new
community; and beside Jesus and the disciples is Mary, the provident
and prayerful Mother. Mary partakes of the joy of ordinary people and
helps it to increase; she intercedes with her Son on behalf of the
spouses and all the invited guests. Nor does Jesus refuse the request
of his Mother. How much hope there is in that event for all of us! We
have a Mother with benevolent and watchful eyes, like her Son; a
heart that is maternal and full of mercy, like him; hands that want
to help, like the hands of Jesus who broke bread for those who were
hungry, touched the sick and healed them. All this fills us with
trust and opens our hearts to the grace and mercy of Christ. Mary’s
intercession makes us experience the consolation for which the
apostle Paul blesses God: 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our affliction, so that we may be able to
encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with
which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s
sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement
also overflow'. Mary is the 'comforted' Mother who comforts her
children.

At Cana the distinctive features of
Jesus and his mission are clearly seen: he comes to the help of those
in difficulty and need. Indeed, in the course of his messianic
ministry he would heal many people of illnesses, infirmities and evil
spirits, give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, restore health
and dignity to lepers, raise the dead, and proclaim the good news to
the poor. Mary’s request at the wedding feast, suggested by the
Holy Spirit to her maternal heart, clearly shows not only Jesus’
messianic power but also his mercy.

In Mary’s concern we see reflected
the tenderness of God. This same tenderness is present in the lives
of all those persons who attend the sick and understand their needs,
even the most imperceptible ones, because they look upon them with
eyes full of love. How many times has a mother at the bedside of her
sick child, or a child caring for an elderly parent, or a grandchild
concerned for a grandparent, placed his or her prayer in the hands of
Our Lady! For our loved ones who suffer because of illness we ask
first for their health. Jesus himself showed the presence of the
Kingdom of God specifically through his healings: 'Go and tell John
what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor
have the good news proclaimed to them'. But love animated by faith
makes us ask for them something greater than physical health: we ask
for peace, a serenity in life that comes from the heart and is God’s
gift, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, a gift which the Father never
denies to those who ask him for it with trust.

In the scene of Cana, in addition to
Jesus and his Mother, there are the 'servants', whom she tells: 'Do
whatever he tells you'. Naturally, the miracle takes place as the
work of Christ; however, he wants to employ human assistance in
performing this miracle. He could have made the wine appear directly
in the jars. But he wants to rely upon human cooperation, and so he
asks the servants to fill them with water. How wonderful and pleasing
to God it is to be servants of others! This more than anything else
makes us like Jesus, who 'did not come to be served but to serve'.
These unnamed people in the Gospel teach us a great deal. Not only do
they obey, but they obey generously: they fill the jars to the brim.
They trust the Mother and carry out immediately and well what they
are asked to do, without complaining, without second thoughts.

On this World Day of the Sick let us
ask Jesus in his mercy, through the intercession of Mary, his Mother
and ours, to grant to all of us this same readiness to be serve those
in need, and, in particular, our infirm brothers and sisters. At
times this service can be tiring and burdensome, yet we are certain
that the Lord will surely turn our human efforts into something
divine. We too can be hands, arms and hearts which help God to
perform his miracles, so often hidden. We too, whether healthy or
sick, can offer up our toil and sufferings like the water which
filled the jars at the wedding feast of Cana and was turned into the
finest wine. By quietly helping those who suffer, as in illness
itself, we take our daily cross upon our shoulders and follow the
Master. Even though the experience of suffering will always remain a
mystery, Jesus helps us to reveal its meaning.

If we can learn to obey the words of
Mary, who says: 'Do whatever he tells you', Jesus will always change
the water of our lives into precious wine. Thus this World Day of the
Sick, solemnly celebrated in the Holy Land, will help fulfil the hope
which I expressed in the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary
Jubilee of Mercy: ‘I trust that this Jubilee year celebrating the
mercy of God will foster an encounter with [Judaism and Islam] and
with other noble religious traditions; may it open us to even more
fervent dialogue so that we might know and understand one another
better; may it eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and
disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimination’
(Misericordiae Vultus, 23). Every hospital and nursing home can be a
visible sign and setting in which to promote the culture of encounter
and peace, where the experience of illness and suffering, along with
professional and fraternal assistance, helps to overcome every
limitation and division.

For this we are set an example by the
two religious sisters who were canonised last May: S.t
Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas and St. Mary of Jesus Crucified
Baouardy, both daughters of the Holy Land. The first was a witness to
meekness and unity, who bore clear witness to the importance of being
responsible for one another other, living in service to one another.
The second, a humble and illiterate woman, was docile to the Holy
Spirit and became an instrument of encounter with the Muslim world.

To all those who assist the sick and
the suffering I express my confident hope that they will draw
inspiration from Mary, the Mother of Mercy. 'May the sweetness of her
countenance watch over us in this Holy Year, so that all of us may
rediscover the joy of God’s tenderness', allow it to dwell in our
hearts and express it in our actions! Let us entrust to the Virgin
Mary our trials and tribulations, together with our joys and
consolations. Let us beg her to turn her eyes of mercy towards us,
especially in times of pain, and make us worthy of beholding, today
and always, the merciful face of her Son Jesus!

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) –
In view of the Pope's upcoming apostolic trip to Cuba and the United
States of America, the Central Church Statistics Office has published
the statistics relating to the Catholic Church in the two countries,
current as of 31 December 2013.

Cuba has a surface area of 110,861 km2
and a population of 11,192,000 inhabitants, of whom 6,775,000 are
Catholics, equivalent to 60.5 per cent of the population. There are
11 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 283 parishes and 2,094 pastoral
centres. There are currently 17 bishops, 365 priests, 659 men and
women religious, and 4,395 catechists. There are 85 seminarians. The
Church has six centres for Catholic education, from pre-school to
university level. With regard to charitable and social centres
belonging to the Church or directed by ecclesiastics or religious, in
Cuba there are 173 hospitals and clinics, one home for the elderly or
disabled, two orphanages and nurseries, and three special centres for
social education or re-education and institutions of other types.

The United States have a surface area
of 9,372,616 km2 and a population of 316,253,000 inhabitants, of whom
71,796,000 are Catholics, representing 22.7 per cent of the
population. There are 196 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 18,256
parishes and 2,183 pastoral centres. There are currently 457 bishops,
40,967 priests, 55,390 men and women religious, 381,892 catechists
and 5,829 seminarians. The Church has 11,265 centres for Catholic
education, from pre-school to university level. With regard to
charitable and social centres belonging to the Church or directed by
ecclesiastics or religious, in the United States there are 888
hospitals and clinics, two leper colonies, 1,152 homes for the
elderly or disabled, 1,090 orphanages and nurseries, 981 family
advisory centres and other centres for the protection of life, and
4,295 special centres for social education or re-education and
institutions of other types.

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) –
The following is a full and definitive list of the participants in
the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be
held from 4 to 25 October 2015, on the theme, “The vocation and
mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world”.

Dr. Aloys Johann Buch, professor of
moral theology at the Interdiocesan Major Seminary of St. Lambert;
permanent deacon of the diocese of Aachen

Mr. and Mrs. Diaz Victoria, Colombia

Mrs. Isabel Botia de Diaz and Mr.
Humberto Diaz Victoria, members of the National Commission for the
Family of the Episcopal Conference; pastoral directors of the Hombres
y Mujeres de futuro Foundation

.

Mr. and Mrs. Galindo, Mexico

Mrs. Gertrudiz Clara Rubio De Galindo
and Mr. Andres Salvador Galindo Lopez, executive secretaries of the
Episcopal Commission for the Family of the Episcopal Conference;
secretaries of CELAM for the Mexico-Central America zone

Mr. and Mrs. Gay Montalvo, Spain

Mrs. María Monserrat Rosell Torrus De
Gay Montalvo, member of the marriage group of the parish of St.
Francis de Sales in Barcelona

Mr. Eugenio Gay Montalvo, former
Magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Spain; former member of the
diocesan Pastoral Council of Barcelona

Mr. and Mrs. Kola, Cameroon

Mrs. Aicha Marianne Kenne Sob Kola and
Mr. Irenee KOLA, members of the African Federation of Family Action
(FAAF); marriage and family counsellors

Mr. and Mrs. Marqus Odeesho, Iraq

Mrs. Suhaila Salim Toma and Mr. Wisam
Marqus Odeesho, pastoral workers in the Chaldean parish of St. George
in Baghdad

Mr. and Mrs. Matassoni, Italy

Mrs. Marialucia Zecchini and Mr. Marco
Marassoni, members of the Commission for family pastoral care in the
archdiocese of Trento

Mr. and Mrs. Mignonat, France

Mrs. Nathalie Mignonat and Mr.
Christian Mignonat, members of the movement Equipes Reliance for
remarried divorcees, founder members of the group SEDIRE for
receiving and accompanying civilly married couples

Mr. and Mrs. Nkosi, South Africa

Mrs. Buysile Patronella Nkosi and Mr.
Meshack Jabulani Nkosi, members of the Advisory Committee for the
National Family Desk of the Southern African Episcopal Catholic
Bishops' Conference.

Vatican City, 15 September 2015 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has appointed Bishop James Vann Johnston of
Springfield-Cape Girardeau, United States of America, as bishop of
Kansas City-Saint Joseph (area 39,361, population 2,524,329,
Catholics 130,500, priests 171, permanent deacons 62, religious 276),
United States of America.